Help in the British Isles

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Many of us have ancestors who originated in England, Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland. Being on this side of the ‘pond’ (Atlantic Ocean) can make it difficult at times locating resources in our quest of our British family tree.

There is a good reference site online titled “Researching Historic Buildings in the British Isles“. Now you may not the family homestead and maybe only which village or town they came from, however there are many aspects of researching in Britain that you may need some help.

This site offers assistance in converting currency amounts, so you better understand what 2 pounds is worth plus understanding and using the metric system. Next you really need to know the different calendars for figuring dates. There are links to help you and convert from the English calendars to types used today.

Another great item is terminology, what do some of the English words / terms really mean? With that is the meaning of Scottish, Latin words and Celtic terms, both of which are still used in documents. For example the term ‘hoosamylla‘ means going from house to house in Scotland. Using Anglo-Saxon language the would be ‘geó-sceaft’ which means something that has been determined of old traditions or fate.

Useful is knowing the trades and occupations from 1550 to 1820. Many times the same job today was known by different terms or that occupation no longer exists. There were people who made Bloom Water which was a toiletry preparation, presumably intended to give artificial colour or ‘bloom’ to a person’s cheeks. Today we would say it is blush makeup that is applied to the cheeks.So overall a good resource to keep handy when you come across money, occupations, a term or phrase from the British Isles which has you stumped.